Kobros is Darwin’s latest electronic air purification platform — a unique, slimline, permanent solution designed for easy integration into modern air systems, requiring virtually no maintenance and no replacement filters.
Kobros is designed for integration across a wide range of air systems, enabling manufacturers to deliver high-performance air purification as a durable, low-to-no maintenance feature.
Its performance is defined by three key characteristics:
High-efficiency sub-micron particle capture maintained over extended operating periods
Supports stable airflow and efficient system performance
Permanent filtration with no replacement filters and minimal cleaning
Kobros uses an electrostatic process to capture and retain airborne particles while maintaining airflow. This enables high-efficiency particle collection to be maintained even as particles accumulate over extended periods of time.
This is an artist’s representation. In real life the pollutant particles are many times smaller in proportion to the filter electrodes
*CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) is a practical measure of air cleaning performance, indicating how much clean air a filtration system delivers by combining airflow with particle removal efficiency.
This structure allows Kobros to maintain both airflow and filtration performance over extended operating lifetimes. That matters particularly in HVAC systems, where increased pressure drop can directly impact heating and cooling performance.
Traditional filtration technologies degrade over time due to either increasing airflow resistance or declining particle capture efficiency. Kobros is designed to avoid both, maintaining stable airflow and particle capture over extended use.
To validate long-term performance, Kobros filters have undergone extensive accelerated loading tests designed to simulate real-world usage over time.
These tests measure initial performance, followed by controlled loading using test dust or cigarette smoke, with performance reassessed at defined intervals. This cycle is typically repeated until the filtration efficiency or pressure drop reaches an unacceptable threshold, or the product’s expected lifetime has been achieved.
This process replicates extended exposure and enables correlation with typical domestic operating conditions.
The results of three representative tests are summarised below as examples.
In this test, a filter utilizing a premium version of the Kobros technology designed for outdoor air applications was exposed to smoke from 4,000 cigarettes, representing approximately 20 years of typical domestic air exposure.
CADR remained largely unchanged across the test duration, demonstrating that Kobros can maintain near-original performance even after extended use equivalent to up to 20 years in a typical domestic environment.
BEFORE
AFTER
This test, used a Kobros filter designed for indoor applications, such as portable air purifiers and domestic air conditioning systems, evaluated performance after exposure to the smoke of 1,000 cigarettes (approximately five years of typical use).
The filter continued to perform effectively, confirming sustained real-world performance under prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter equivalent to roughly five years of use in a typical domestic environment
In this test, a Kobros filter configured for MERV 16 performance* in residential HVAC systems was loaded with ASHRAE 52.2 test dust (excluding black carbon).
The filter accumulated over 300 grams of dust, equivalent to approximately five years of typical residential air exposure.
*Kobros is a highly configurable particle collection technology, with performance tailored through parameters such as depth, electrode spacing and voltage.
Result:
Filtration efficiency remained close to MERV 16-level performance for the majority of the test, with some gradual decline observed at higher loading levels. Pressure drop remained low and stable throughout, indicating that airflow is not significantly restricted over time.
Importantly, pressure drop across the Kobros filter remained low and stable throughout the test, supporting consistent system performance. This is a critical consideration in airflow-sensitive applications, such as HVAC systems, where increased pressure drop can restrict airflow and directly affect heating and cooling performance.
This behaviour reflects the fundamental design of Kobros.
Particles are collected on surfaces aligned with the airflow, allowing accumulation without significantly increasing resistance or reducing collection efficiency.
In contrast:
Kobros is designed to avoid both of these limitations, maintaining stable airflow and high filtration efficiency over extended operating periods.
Filtration technologies often involve trade-offs, excelling in one area while compromising another. The comparison below considers the key performance factors together and illustrates how Kobros is designed to outperform conventional technologies across the full range of performance requirements.
| Dimension | HEPA | Electrostatic Media | ESP | ifD | Kobros® |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Particle Capture Efficiency | |||||
| Pressure Drop (performance & noise) | |||||
| Sparking Potential | |||||
| Slim Profile Integration | |||||
| Particle Loading Capacity | |||||
| Cleaning/Replacement Frequency | |||||
| Filter Replacement Costs |
Kobros enables high-efficiency IAQ integration without the traditional trade-offs between performance, pressure drop and maintenance
Kobros builds on Darwin’s proven ifD technology.
Darwin’s first breakthrough technology, ifD®, combined high-efficiency sub-micron particle capture with very low pressure drop in a permanent, washable filter, a combination not previously achievable with conventional technologies.
This enabled manufacturers to integrate high-performance air purification into products where traditional filtration approaches were impractical, while also eliminating the need for filter replacement, allowing end-users to avoid the ongoing, cumulative cost of periodic filters.
ifD has been widely adopted by leading global manufacturers across air purifiers and HVAC systems in North America and Asia, including several of the best-selling products in the United States, and continues to be deployed in products marketed today.
Darwin technologies have been integrated into millions of products worldwide across air purifiers, HVAC systems, and other appliances.
Kobros enables manufacturers to integrate high-performance air purification as a scalable, durable product feature—without the trade-offs that have historically limited adoption.
